It is common practice in the food service industry to shock knives, forks and spoons in the handles-down mode in tall, perforated plastic cups after soaking and removal of the gross food accumulations. Thereafter, the cups of flatware are processed through a conventional dishwashing machine in an effort to complete the cleaning. However, individual pieces of flatware tend to mask adjacent pieces in the shock, preventing the high-pressure washing and rinsing sprays from reaching many surfaces that have been contaminated with smears of food or with substances from the user's mouth. Spoons are particularly susceptible to undersirable nesting, and the inside edges of fork tines constitute a comparatively inaccessible residence of potential contamination. Moreover, the high-pressure wash sprays of conventional tablewarewashing equipment, being directed generally axially of the pieces of shocked flatware, tend to "lock" undesirably nested pieces in that configuration, thus thoroughly frustrating complete cleansing. In addition, research has brought out that freshly washed hospital flatware oftentimes harbors a sufficiently vigorous and varied flora of micro-organisms to cause nosocomial infections. Restaurant flatware poses a somewhat similar source of contagion.